Daniel’s Lane Residence by Blaze Makoid Architecture

“Our work focuses on creating total built environments that are a modern reflection of our clients while striving for a timeless product that remains fresh, exciting and inspiring.”

The residence Blaze Makoid Architecture created for a father with three children in Sagaponack on the Eastern Shore of Long Island was inspired by the iconic architect Norman Jaffe’s Perlbinder House(1970) and Tod Williams’ Tarlo House (1979) but with his and his firm’s signature of designing residences that have a quiet elegance that are uniquely suited to each client. As in all of Makoid’s work, there is a cohesiveness that unites the architecture with its interiors and the site. The lines between indoors and out blur as they become the greater part of the whole.

The client put his trust in Makoid’s ability to find the property and design a residence devoid of anything extraneous. His only mandate—he wanted a house that wasn’t ‘busy’.

Sited on a narrow, one-acre, oceanfront lot, the design of this house was one of the first projects in the Village of Sagaponack to be affected by the 2010 revision to FEMA flood elevations, requiring a first floor elevation of approximately 17 feet above sea level with a maximum height allowance of 40’. All construction was required to be located landward of the Coastal Erosion Hazard Line. The location within a high velocity (VE) wind zone added to the planning and structural challenges.

Makoid wanted the structure to appear simple and clean upon arrival. The two story travertine entry façade is highlighted with a single opening accentuated by a cantilevered afromosia stair landing that hovers off the ground. A ‘cut and fold’ in the wall plane bends to allow for one large glass opening, from which an over scaled wood aperture containing the main stair landing cantilevers. A layer of service spaces run parallel to the wall plane creating a threshold prior to reaching the horizontal expanse of the open plan living room, dining area and kitchen that stretches along the ocean side of the house. Fifteen-foot wide floor to ceiling glass sliding panels maximize the ocean view and create easy access to the patio and pool beyond.

The second floor is imagined as a travertine and glass ‘drawer’ floating above the glass floor below. Three identical children’s bedrooms run from west to east, setting a rhythm that is punctuated by a master bedroom with balcony that projects from the wall plane. It is clad in the same afromosia wood as the stair landing. The quiet elegance and clean lines of the house are accentuated by the materials that also include poured-in-place concrete floors, Calcutta marble cladding and afromosia millwork.